On the Cover – Kellie Pickler

2/15/2007 – February/March 2007

Label: 19 Recordings/BNA Records
Booking: CAA
Producers: Blake Chancey
Current Single: “I Wonder”
Current Album: Small Town Girl
Current Video: “I Wonder”

Birth Date: June 28, 1986
Interesting Facts: Kellie attended cosmetology school
Awards: Special TV Appearances: Pickler was a finalist on season five of American Idol. She has co-hosted ABC’s The View, and also appeared on Today, Ellen and The Tonight Show.
Hits: “Red High Heels”
RIAA Certifications: Small Town Girl certified Gold Musical Influences: LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Tammy Wynette, and especially Dolly Parton; and classic hymns like Jesus Loves Me, and Amazing Grace.

“There’s a difference in running from your problems and overcoming them,” says Kellie Pickler, who has had more than her share of tough life experiences. Her mother left when she was a child and her father has spent time in prison and struggled with addiction. Pickler was raised by her loving grandparents and developed close relationships with them. Her grandmother’s death when she was a sophomore in high school was yet another tough situation to overcome. “Of all the things I have been through in my life, the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through is the loss of my grandmother. She was always there for me, and then she was gone.” Kellie had graduated high school by the time she auditioned for the fifth season of American Idol. “They announced auditions in Greensboro, North Carolina. So my grandpa Ken and I loaded up and off we went.” She recalls, “I saw all those people there, and said, ‘Grandpa, let’s just go, they’re never gonna give me a second look. What do I have that these other 10,000 people don’t?’ He said, ‘Sit down Kellie, we’re here now, what do you have to lose?’” Winning over judges and viewers alike with her personality and talent, Kellie made it to the final six contestants before being voted off the show. “The next week I flew to Nashville to meet with Sony BMG Chairman Joe Galante and signed a record deal. The (American Idol) tour started and in between shows, I was recording my album. It was a whirlwind.” Pickler found a creative partner with producer Blake Chancey who has also worked with The Dixie Chicks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Jim Lauderdale. She was also, for the first time, writing songs. “I had tried to do it before, but I couldn’t figure it out. I was making it much more complicated than it needed to be. Then they put me with Aimee Mayo, and it all came together. She helped me write what I wanted to say.” The results are co-writer credit on five of the album’s 11 songs, including the title cut, and the first single, Red High Heels. She also found a way to immortalize her late grandmother on the song My Angel which she wrote with Mayo and Chris Lindsey. Her debut album, Small Town Girl, has received rave reviews in publications including Rolling Stone and US Weekly. It was the best-selling debut album by a solo country artist of 2006. In April, Pickler is set to join Brad Paisley on his Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour that will continue through the summer.